Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Release Date And Pricing Revealed

That seems cheaper than I expected. Plus I just renewed so I’ll get a discount.

Ok, you got the prices wrong here originally in the article. Woah expensive.

Wth Nintendo?

Keep on walking Nintendo. Come back when you have virtual console.

An additional $30 a year, for DLC I could buy and keep, and games I could play elsewhere through other methods?
Absolutely not. No thank you.

Disgustingly overpriced and including the New Horizons DLC doesn't justify it at all. Should have been $30 at most

It's effing expensive if you don't want/need that dlc

Worth it just for Sin and Punishment & Starfox 64

A wise fat man once said that piracy is not a problem with price, it is a problem with service.

While the price is really expensive, the service is not good too, while legally, Nintendo has their right to take down emulation websites giving out games for free, morally, Nintendo is not in a position to complain, especially since a lot of games, including games they made, are lost and are no longer available even on these expensive services.

No, thank you. That's just too much. Call me when they sell the N64 games separately

Pretty sure the video said it was a whopping $49.99 and not the price reported here. The $19.99 is just for the base membership, no?

I'm confused. Those are the current prices for the basic service. So are you saying the expansion is basically free for the first year?

What about people that don't have Animal Crossing? They should have left the AC DLC out of this and decreased the overall price.

For myself, partner, and 2 brothers who all share a family account and all play Animal Crossing, this is a no brainer. But if you don't own Animal Crossing, or simply not interested in its DLC, that's a ridiculous markup.

YIKES!! That price is HORRIBLE! I would have been worth it with a Gamecube joint. Not this with no voice chat and stuff.

The pricing info you have is wrong. Nintendo's Twitter post said $49.99 individual or $79.99 family. That's kinda pricey. Don't think I'll be upgrading.

@MS7000 For retro games, a renting model like Netflix or Game Pass, could work better.

If it was less expensive and had more games.

Lol so you have to keep paying every year/month to keep playing the animal crossing DLC? Typical nintnedo

I'm very confused. The video says Family Membership for 12 months is $79 dollar?

@PikaPhantom Anyone interested in the Happy Home Paradise expansion is better off just buying it and keeping it on their Switch. Otherwise, that content is just tied to a temporary membership.

Nintendo lost their god damn minds, what if I don't care about Animal Crossing? I'm supposed to overpay for the use of DLC I will never play?!?

I think the prices in the article are wrong. They are for the standard NSO and not the expansion. Either way, I’m happy with the standard cloud saves tariff.

For uk users. 12 months is 35 pounds for expansion and 60 pounds for family plan

Edit. Price is now correct in article

I wonder how much discount you get.

Ah I see the article's been edited now. That is a disgusting price to pay, because I will never play AC..

Those prices are wrong yearly family plan has yearly individual and individual still old prices. Update this article too.
Edit: fixed it while I was typing.

So I can get N64 games, Mega Drive games and a 3DS game turned into DLC?

...I know Nintendo has sold some weird things in the past but this is more confusing than anything.

I know we all love to bitch, but honestly, this isn't that bad. the AC dlc is 25$, so it's only 5$ extra for n64 and genesis. They'll probably give us a no AC version in the future, for 5$ extra.

Kind of hilarious that $30 more wasn't even on the poll from a few days ago. NL didn't even consider Nintendo would be this greedy lol.

Hefty price, this is the reason I stop having PS+ (when I stoped it was this price, now higher) because when they removed Vita/PS3 games the value was gone for me.

And PS+ has more to offer than Switch Online...

Unless they add GBA/GameCube game I keep the regular 19.99 euro sub a year, SNES games and Cloud saves make THAT worth for me, but paying that much extra for games I don't care about not.

And that AC DLC you get with the premium pack I would get loose anyhow, I don't like renting DLC... because that's what it is then.

Hmm well I should get a nice discount. So long as other improvements are included in the price or even other DLC over time this could become a nice deal. And at least you get two tiers that give access to online (which is the main point of the service ). At this point the extra is if you want Nintendo to invest in NSO as a service instead of mostly online multiplayer with cloud saves. Which I do. Plus as an AC player this is just 5 bucks this year which I bet my discount will cover.

NSO and gamepass ultimate are the way to go for me.

I just watched the video. It is £35 a year for everything.

That's pretty damn reasonable.

Well... I'm think that this price is... (Edit) Wait, WHAT? 40€/50$ for this!? Nope! Too much!

So 30 a year over the standard membership for an emulator? Thanks but no thanks. If it was 30 dollars for a perpetual license to the collection then maybe, but for a subscription, this is insane.

An extra $30 a year? Are they nuts?

EDIT: All right, it does include the Animal Crossing expansion, so if there's a cheaper way to upgrade without the expansion that might be OK. But I'm guessing there isn't. That would be very...Nintendo.

I'll be upgrading forsure

@victordamazio For some people, sure. But for me specifically, I despise subscription models. I never minded paying the price for the individual titles on virtual console since I at least get to keep the purchases.

@MS7000 Why everyone wants virtual console? With 20€ you'll have 2-3 games. Virtual console prices: 5€ NES game, 8€ snes-gba game, 10€ N64-ds game, 20€ Wii game

This is really damn weird. I have no clue what they thought when they came up with this. I guess now I can just sit back and hope this does bad and that Nintendo reconsiders the existence of NSO in the first place

The table up top is wrong. For 1 year it is 49.99 that includes online + expansion, not 19.99. 19.99 is the cost without expansion. 12 month family is 34.99 without and 79.99 with

https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/41194/~/how-much-does-a-nintendo-switch-online-membership-cost%3F

I just don’t like the idea of having to rent a dlc that I don’t want in order to get access to n64 games.

Wow I really wasn't expecting a whole $30 jump :/

That looks expensive. Probably won’t get it then

@broskiplays in the NSO website it says is 5 cents for every day you have left on your current plan with a maximum of the price of the expansion pass

Shooting themselves in the foot with their pricing.
Again.

Nintendo life really not calling out this pricing even a tone of defending it?!?!?

Wow.

This price is crazy for what you get.

I genuinely didn’t see this coming and had myself down for day one. But no thanks. Same price I paid for GPU for a year and more than PSnow…. Haha. Ok then.

$5 or 10 more for expansion I was expecting. $30 more on Individual year and $45 more on Family Plan? I'm out.

This is unfortunate. I guess i wont need that N64 controller now as i will be sticking with the standard subscription. Defenately not paying that much to play N64 games and Genesis and im not interested in AC what so ever. Oh well, guess i will go back to downloading roms for the games i want to play as Nintendo cant be bothered to offer them for a reasonable price.

@Kimyonaakuma where is a 3ds game turned in DLC?

I blame shareholders. That is not a reasonable price (to each their own).
Bring back VC so I can buy and keep the games I want

The HHP DLC = $25
I have subscribed $20 for Normal NSO, so i think $25 for HHP DLC is already enough to play ACNH with meaty contents, right ?

so people complain about paying $49.99 for the upgrade while sony and xbox gamers pay alot more on their system services seriously hypocrites not everything going to stay cheap for your liking.

@CharlieGirl Where are you reading that getting the DLC through the Expansion Pack means you don't own it? I mean, it's not necessarily made very clear to begin with. But I'm not seeing that stated anywhere

They better offer something pretty good for that price. I already pay for the family plan for my NSO account so me, my daughters, and a few of their friends can all play Switch online together. But that price is MORE THAN DOUBLE what I pay now. $80 is a hefty price hike, so they better add some pretty spectacular things to the service, since it STILL doesn't even offer as much as Xbox or Sony do for their now EQUALLY PRICED online plans. Before, Nintendo offered less...but you paid less, so that was alright. NOW they are asking the same price as competitors, but still offering less in services, overall. And wouldn't it be better just to buy the DLC outright rather than have to rely on an online membership to "own" it...until you decide to stop paying and then it all goes bye bye?

@BananaMetallurgica Because owning something ≠ renting something. And many people prefer the former over the latter

Yeah, this is very reasonable. Well done.

@InkIdols the first year it is

But the year after that you pay 30 dollars for MD/N64 games.

Also not everybody cares about AC DLC, and I would buy it anyhow (renting a DLC is stupid and I don't like it).

@CharlieGirl I don't have enough to go on to dispute what you're saying... but say you buy the AC DLC. Will that mean you pay less for the N64 + Sega membership than those who haven't?

Because if not, I'll only be buying the AC DLC at the end of the system's life. Maybe that's what Nintendo were banking on with this. Either way this added cost does give a bit to think about.

Yeah no thanks, I'd much rather buy the games or at least let me choose which systems come with the base membership

When Disney+ launched with barely any content, I waited a year to let the amount of content to build up.

What would it hurt to wait for this? At the moment it seems overpriced, and Nintendo may react if we don’t all bite.

So if you aren't into Animal crossing or don't play anymore the deals pretty bad.

Ridiculous... for almost the same price I have the PS plus subscription with newer games... (actually more expensive cuz I bought it at a discount) I'm a Nintendo fanboy but this too much, hard pass

I'm not surprised about this in the slightest after the stunt they pulled with the All-Star Collection.

Imagine being soo arrogant that you think your service is worth an extra $30 without even upgrading the online service quality because you think so highly of your own I.Ps is worth the higher price alone.

Wouldn't mind betting that the N64 and Genesis games will also be available via a yet-to-be-announced tier...

It is reasonable the first year if you really look forward to play HHP, that is $25 alone and N64+Genesis would be $5. The bad thing is that I will not own HHP, hope they would give you the download after X amount of time (don't think they will).

It is less than the price of a coffee per month, for all those N64 games with more to come. I feel like they’ll add additional content too down the line.. maybe DLC for other games will be a NSO Expansion perk.

It'll be also interesting to see if they will give us other DLC as part of the pack in the future, that's the only way I think it would justify "renting" them IMO.

@RiasGremory I paid £3.40 a month for GPU and less than £3 a month for psnow. So this is more expensive than both.

For a tiny amount of the content either have. Ridiculous price.

@BananaMetallurgica because most people get the VC games they want, so in the end for some that makes more sense.

Also you are not forced to keep your sub to have the access to the games you want to play.

I mean I have the sub purely because of cloud saves, because unlike the PS Vita I have, Nintendo does not allow local save back-up so I don't have much choice.

Having the SNES games is a nice adidtion, but from the whole list we have I only play 3 of them, so if I had to buy them it would be only those 3 games on the SNES via VC.

I would like clarification on whether the Expansion gets you the AC DLC for good or only as long as you sub as: Active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion membership required to access DLC at no additional cost" makes me think you'd have to rebuy if you ever wanted to have it and not keep paying $50 for the NSO+

hard pass. I would've paid maybe £25 tops for that but I don't play the games as much so £35 per year for that content is not what I'm willing to pay. Nintendo always finds ways to make you pay again for its older content and now you'll be paying every year for a game you probably already own twice or more but you'll probably never play it. You're just paying for access rather than what you actually want.

The criminal thing is that not even the best third party games are available on these offerings. eg Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI etc... and I don't think that will ever happen so I won't upgrade until the content is better.

People pay for a non-service like NSO in droves and act surprised when Nintendo decides to try and wring even more while providing so, so little.

I voted with my wallet. I just wish that others had exercised restraint because this will ultimately backfire on all of us in the longterm.

Is animal crossing a service or a one time purchase?

If I buy the 3,99€ monthly upgrade, would I get the DLC as well?

In fact it's stuff like this that pushes you towards a steamdeck

@BananaMetallurgica Because virtual console was amazing in that you could pick what you wanted, and could actually keep it. What I don't get is why people like you have to question why it was appealing to so many? It should be obvious.
Why not have both a VC option and the rental option? I'd gladly take the best of both options.

@Stocksy thats bull cause sony and xbox gamers have to pay $60 to get on the services just to play online which is way more then this.

Not interested unless we can buy those games. Not gonna waste money for rental!

For people like me this is great. My family has 5 switches and all of them have animal crossing. So I can pay $45 for the expansion that everyone can get and also get some N64/Sega games. Also it's possible that you will get more systems/dlc with this plan as time goes on.

@Nclind Agreed. SO much entitlement

They really need to recover from loses during COVID pandemic. Poor company, they need our help!

I do not desire games rental.
Virtual Console is the way. Has always been.

i am absolutely not paying $50 a year for this lmao.

@RiasGremory no it’s not I know how much I paid and continue to pay. Sony and MS offer deals constantly. Nintendo have never offered deals on online membership

Paying that much when they're going to only drip feed you new titles just isn't worth it. They'd have to show consistency in releasing new titles which, let's face it, they're not going to

Dang, that’s pretty pricey alright. Not sure about this.

@Nclind not wanting to pay double for a handful of n64 is not acting entitled. Stop throwing around buzz words trying to sound cool. Being savvy and not paying whatever price Nintendo pluck from the air is not being entitled it’s common sense. I can afford to pay this easily. But it’s not sensibly priced so I won’t pay. If you wanna pay this more fool you.

while online for n64/genesis is cool
i want an option without the animal crossing dlc if it's cheaper?
or bring back Mario battle royale

I realise that no one is going to be happy with everything on a service but for non animal crossing players who already bought the Mario collection and sega genesis collection, there is very little to justify spending $50.

Seems like loyal customers are penalised.

I just wonder what is the Expansion Pack mean ?
Is Expansion Pack a different thing with HHP DLC $25 ?

So it’s another £15 pounds more with the expansion pass. Not that bad but I’m probably not gonna upgrade.

Bro 😔 I just want to play N64 games

@Stocksy
Come Black Friday you will probably be able to nab a year of PS+ for $30, $35. Nintendo has never done anything like that.

Sucks for the US but the British price upgrade is literally fine, lol. 20 quid to 35? Sure cool happy to pay that

@Gwynbleidd
Nintendo has had many lessons. Unfortunately they never learn anything from them.

how bad do you really want to play ocarina of time

@RiasGremory 59.99 is PS+ a year.

DISCLAIMER, I don't think PS+ is worth FOR ME so I don't have it for years now, but I am at least fair with the following.

• It gives you acces to new PS Plus games each month (and before someone complain about not caring for these games, I have Switch Online and to not give a crap about NES games, same thing)
• Extra discount on some games and in some sales
• Cloud save support (100gb for saves)
• Access to online gaming (F2P does not require PS+)

So in the end not as bad as some claim.

As for Xbox that is more complicated, regular Gold (€59.99 a year) sub gives you same stuff as PS+ but without cloud saves (because Cloud saves are free on Xbox)

The Ultimate sub which we have at home is 12.99 euro a month, it contains Xbox Live Gold, Xbox Game Pass, EA Game Pass basic on Xbox and PC, PC Game Pass, xCloud (streaming of games) and extra game pass discount on certain games and DLC.

So we can all complain how bad the other companies do, but actually they do better than Nintendo.

Unless you don't need that stuff, I game a lot on PC and so does my partner and we have a Xbox too, so for us the Ultimate pass makes sense.

But when Sony removed Vita/PS3 games from PS Plus we stopped the sub, because that was our only reason to have it.

As for Nintendo, the price for the regular sub (19.99 euro a year) is fair in my opinion, the expanded sub for 39.99 is not, unless they at AT LEAST Gamecube and GBA games to it.

As long as the 19.99 sub will exist I do not complain, because I keep that sub until Nintendo makes the more expensive one actually good.

@RiasGremory Is Nintendo going to start including switch games every month as part of the cost of online service? Sometimes 1st party games? No? Then its horribly over priced considering you are paying for an open sourced emulator and roms.

Damn, $50 a year? What's the price for PSN a year? Then again, it is only once a year so less than $5 a month....hmmm...

@Mario_maniac An option to expand the online with just the Genesis/N64 games could be worth considering. But as it is, it's just not consumer friendly.

This is possibly the dumbest move Nintendo has made in a long time. I am a hardcore N64 fan but even I can't justify this.

I'm glad I still have all my VC games on WiiU. I would have gladly paid an extra $10 or maybe $15 per year to play them on my Switch but this is nuts.

@InkIdols as long the 19.99 plan exist I don't complain, simple as that.

It seems like they more than doubled the price without adding more than double the content. The animal crossing dlc has no business being a part of this service and unnecessarily adds to the price.

Ninty needs to learn an important lesson: their online structure is not at the same level as Microsoft's and Sony's. What they're asking for is non-consumer friendly. Here's hoping they take this lesson to heart when their users aren't upgrading to this rip-off of an "expansion".

@Rayquaza2510 yeah. i'm not one to complain.

And Nintendo wonders why ROMs are so popular.

@CharlieGirl I’m pretty sure you’ll get to keep the AC DLC even after your subscription lapses…

@Stocksy Nintendolife kinda have to defend this. They've spent years defending all sorts of poor practices. Be it poor or low effort ports, over priced titles, or even the online offerings. Then we have all the Nintendo fans who have done the same.

To draw a line here and now would raise questions on whether or not defending the other stuff was actually the right thing to do.

Best to keep consuming and decry all criticism as entitled.

Give me Wii & GCN VC then I'll actually consider it.

@Bizzyb
PS is giving you three modern gen games a month. Is Nintendo gonna do that?

Yikes. Way too expensive; I’ll be passing on this one. Usually expansion packs are cheaper than the base game/service they build upon. Guess Nintendo didn’t get the memo.

More than doubling the asking price to add N64 games and titles from a system that has extensive compilations readily available for permanent purchase on every platform around (including Switch)...for LESS THAN the increase alone...constitutes breathtaking arrogance and greed on Nintendo's part.

They can get back to me when they're ready to SELL those N64 games which I can tie to my user account instead of an individual system as was their practice before they ditched the Virtual Console. The ugly truth here is that what many folks perceive as backwardness or ineptitude on Nintendo's part is actually carefully and deliberately planned and calculated. They have ZERO respect for their consumers, and boy, does this stunt show that off in full Technocolor.

I'm not going to contribute to that greed by supporting this "expansion"; it's a slap in the face to Nintendo's consumers.

Hmm, it is tempting for those N64 games.

@ArmenianJedi13 I don't think so.

Like I said elsewhere, the only bummer is a higher price for the meaty but not independent content - not everyone has or plans to buy ACNH, after all (fantastic as it may sound😄). That said, I will still be upgrading - it's just that the estimated €30 will most likely downgrade this upgrade from an immediate impulse purchase to a holiday or even summer investment (the latter being my annual online renewal season as of late). Unless Nintendo's "pro rated discount" can wow me enough with the current 8+ months of remaining standard sub accounted for, but even then, other eShop plans I've been making for next week may still leave it out at launch. Sorry for neglecting to blow it into an entitled fanhead drama, folks.😘

@AtlanteanMan
Nintendo has always been arrogant and treated consumers like *****, why stop now?

Wow. That price point doesn't seem very Nintendo. I was thinking a $10 increase tops, but $30 for some N64 games? (I already have the excellent Genesis collection for my Switch, so there's nothing for me there.) I'll just buy the expansion for AC and save my $30/year. Shame, though. I was looking forward to getting my N64 on...

It's a shame. I was interested but the current offerings are nowhere near enough for the price hike. I was expecting a few pounds more a year. Also, I'm not an AC player but I'd be annoyed if content is locked behind a subscription that I don't need YEARLY. Yet more profiteering.

The only thing that would make that service worth it for that price is if all paid DLC for Nintendo IPs were included automatically. Meaning, you’d never pay for DLC again. Just $50 a year, and then charge everyone else for DLC who doesn’t have the online service…

£35 is poor value for money just to play the occasional N64 game.

Count me out.

@ManInTheChair
There's being a cheapskate and then there's flat out being a sucker.

@ArmenianJedi13 Citation needed.

So my family plan would go from $35 to $80? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha... No. I'll pass.

damn that's way more than expected, I thought it was going to be 10 or 15 more not 30. that asking price better go to the funding/development of other consoles being added like gameboy-gameboy advance and maybe gamecube

An extra £17 a YEAR for what will like be around at least 20 N64 games and probably many more Mega Drive Games. I don’t have access to an N64, games or even a compatible tv to play it on anymore and never been a fan of playing video games on pc, I’m more of a controller on the couch kinda gamer so I’m over the moon with this expansion. Looking forward to showing my kids Ocarina of time!

@Kidfunkadelic83 "I don't want to pay the price set by the publisher, so I'll steal it instead."

Well, yeah, you should try that at your local grocery store.

Ha! Now the states are getting screwed on pricing, albeit, not by much. €40 is $46.11, £35 is $48.16, but we gotta pay the flat $50. Why are these companies so bad at converting prices, then adding the necessary fees and taxes from there.
On a side note, is this a better deal than the equivalent xbox live(or gold, whatever it's called) and ps+?

@HungryHungryHomer True, but it only means anything if you actually want to play those 3 games (or don't already own them).

I think I downloaded 2 PS+ games this year so far...so....yea

I have a feeling that, since this new pack is only offered yearly, that the DLC is purchased and not rented. So it subsidizes the first year at the very least. If they offered a monthly plan, then of course you couldn't throw in the DLC as a purchase, since people could get $25 of content for a much lower cost of one month. Hard to believe that DLC would be rented.

Peoples need to chill.
Getting upset for NSO price will not change the price.

$50 per year really isn't that bad. Some people are overreacting as usual.
I will be upgrading for sure.

@Anti-Matter Purchasing this ridiculously priced pass won't help, either.

@Anti-Matter
You're right. Just chill and bend over for Nintendo.

@sanderev Piracy is not stealing, if you make something and I take it away without your consent, I stole from you, you don't have it anymore, but if you make something, and I make a copy for me, nothing was stolen, you still have the original.

Copyright laws are about requiring consent for me to make copies of what you made, as a way to reward artists and creators, but corporations ruined the original intention of copyright, it used to last much less, because there are aways other artists and creators that take things other people made, and make them even better.

@megasean You get the DLC "for free" with the expansion pack. So no, it's not a purchase of the DLC nor does it count as one (you will lose it once you stop paying for it)

"We're going to build this big $50 wall our consumers will have to climb over to be able to enjoy N64 games, and we're going to get THEM to pay for it!"

And people have the brass and/or naivete to lampoon a similar statement by a certain former US President. Big Corporate has been doing the very same thing to you for YEARS via business practices that people just roll over and keep supporting instead of voting "NO" with their wallets.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Nintendo is out of their minds.

I don't usually make statements like this, but I have to for this case.

They're asking $50 per year, close to the same price as PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold which give you TWO CURRENT-GEN games per MONTH in addition to better online, voice-chat, etc, as compared to this NSO plan with just drip-feeding (remember they don't add games per month, just whenever they feel like it) N64 and Genesis and a $25 DLC for one game.

What if you don't have Animal Crossing? Sucks for you, still have to RENT the $25 DLC anyway PER YEAR.

Why couldn't they just keep the DLC as DLC and then keep the N64 and Genesis games as a $30/year option? Even for people interested in Animal Crossing DLC, it's much better to buy the $25 DLC since that way you only pay the $25 one time and can keep it as opposed to paying $25 per year for it and losing it if you ever decide to stop paying it.

Nintendo absolutely deserves all the negative criticism they can get for this.

@Arkay
$50 to play an occasional 25 year old game isn't bad?

@Arkay That mentality is the reason a lot of stuff now days goes away from having actual content.

The price itself is not the problem here, the content you get for that price is.

@RiasGremory You do realise that Xbox live and PSN are far better than Nintendo online? Nothing about this is worth the price. If you think this is a good price then fine I guess.

Nope. Absolutely not. You guys are out of your minds. Try again

There are a lot of people who don't play Animal Crossing so it's pretty much moot point to have it packaged up front. $50 a year is a big ask for a very shoddy service. If it were comparable to the other console services I would agree. Lets all be honest and say the NSO was never very good, and it's just less bang for the buck now.

@victordamazio So it's worse. Since with A I would at least know you stole from me. In the end piracy is just as illegal as stealing.

The whole "you wouldn't download a car" thing

Hard to call something an "expansion pack" when it's 150% more than the base price. Or over 120% for Family. That's not what people think of when they hear "expansion".

Since I get to share online and all of my PS+ games with my family at home this Family plan actually costs more than PS+, and we get a lot of games with PS+, usually on sale for $35 or $40.

$80 is kind of insane if you're really using it for your in home family and not sharing it with 5 or 6 other paying gamers.

Holy crap! $50!?!? Absolutely not. I’d rather pay and own the Animal Crossing DLC and I don’t care about Genesis games so Nintendo is asking me to pay an extra $30 for N64 games. Nah. I was expecting $35 total at the absolute most.

Nintendo, you’re doing really well financially but you’re starting to get greedy. Don’t do this to us.

@sanderev you get ACCESS to the DLC if you pay for the sub (because nothing in this world is really free)

Fixed that for you, getting something is different from getting ACCESS to something.

And maybe I sound ranty, but I am not (I would rather buy that DLC anyhow, I hate renting)

For some megadrive games that are on everything but your microwave and a handfull of n64 titles. Not in their wildest dreams 😂

@RiasGremory Sony includes 3 free modern games a month with Plus, and they are not 20+ year old games.

Also, Plus memberships are regularly available for $40 or less a year from 3rd party websites like cdkeys.

Ouch Nintendo... Mega ouch. All I wanted was N64 games on my Switch for a decent price...

Woah, that price is absolutely absurd. We better have more content coming to justify $50. I desperately want Mario Kart 64 online though so I'll probably be stupid and upgrade :-/

Short answer: NO, Nintendo.

@Rayquaza2510 I put "for free" in quotes for a reason

@Rayquaza2510 @HungryHungryHomer
Then wait till more games that will obviously come out.
I'm fine with it, I'm also fine with you not paying.

I wonder why they couldn't have a separate option for those that didn't want or give a crap about the ACNH DLC...🤔

@Rayquaza2510 I think what turns people off is the fact that the online itself sucks. Smash is a 50/50 on whether or not your match will be a lagfest. Mario Maker 2 has horrendous lag in multiplayer that makes it borderline unplayable at times. Splatoon 2 is smooth but disconnects are common. 3D World lags. Super Mario Party has disconnects (from what I've heard). I'm sure there's other examples but you get the idea. If the internet was actually good then that's a different story

@RadarRider1987 @HungryHungryHomer @rushiosan
Chills... ❄

Soooo they charge a price OVER the normal price, so you can get access to n64 and Megadrive games...and Animal crossing dlc (wich you can't keep?!)? They are completely out of their minds there in Kyoto!!

I tend to be amenable to Nintendo's strange business practices, but... no. This is a big mistake. Virtual Console wasn't broken, Nintendo needs to bring it back. All they have to do to justify a more expensive online service is offer QoL improvements like party chat.

Looks like Americans are getting screwed by the regional pricing. $50 vs €40 (or $79.99USD vs €69,99 for the family membership) is ridiculous.

If Nintendo bundles more DLC of their games with the NSO + Expansions Pack, then I can see this being a good if not great deal in the long run.

As of right now it's hard to recommend the $30 price uptick for anyone who isn't into Animal Crossing (and nearly impossible to recommend to anyone who doesn't own Animal Crossing at all).

So, how long before the raise the regular yearly price, to make the "expansion" price more palatable. Once they see the backlash on this, you have to think they might try it. Ala Microsoft and double the yearly gold membership only to find out people where not having it.

Cant understand why people complain about this. The orginal deal is super cheap. The new deal is also very cheap. Atleast Nintendo is offering options, 2 very cheap options. Cant expect Nintendo to give away everything for free, and i dont want them to, i want them to earn something and create more fantastic games. 20 years ago this was our dream... games are cheaper, content/library is 100x bigger and better, gamepass/NSO is fantastic. Gamers are spoiled today, you cant complain about these deals unless you are homeless with 0 money, but then you are the problem, not Nintendo.

I have some of these N64 games and the console setup in my games room but I get very little time to play them. Having them on a handheld console is extremely convenient so I might bite on this. Might finally get around to playing Zelda OOT.

@Arkay I will pay for the regular 19.99 sub like I did since it came out, kinda low to claim "I don't want to pay for it".

It would be nice if some people put off their "pink glasses" and looked at what you really get here, again the price could be fine if the content they give you for it was too.

If Nintendo adds TRUE content for this amount of money, then sure I get it (and that means at least GBA and GC games)

As a non, NSO user so far, I have a question which might sound obvious to most: if I subscribe, will I be able to play N64 games offline or do you always have to be connected to the internet to play them?

@westman98 Normally it is the EU that gets screwed over by a one on one price with the US (50 dollars being 50 euro here)

So I am surprised they actually made it 39.99 for EU.

No freaking way!😃 No thanks.

So overpriced. I bet this news will hurt their stock.

Try again Nintendo.

Nope! 🤣
30, I'd do, fut 40 ***** bux to play some DR Mario and Mario party online?! 😂😂😂😂

@nessisonett No, you will pay more if you just renewed. You pay less, if you only have a few days left. Else you would pay the full price for just 3 days or something like that.

@CharlieGirl Lol, and I remember you saying that you thought the expansion would cost $10-20 at most.

Well, looks like Nintendo is being kinda greedy, not gonna lie.

Oh, boy. I dare somebody to defend this price increase.
Who the hell is going to pay for this on top of paying for NSO, their other television show streaming services, and their internet plan?

@Cipher36
Microsoft tried to double the price of XBL with absolutely no benefit or upgrade - they were just going to double it's price for no apparent reason until the backlash forced them to walk back their decision.

The NSO Expansion Pack adds NSO + Genesis games and the Animal Crossing DLC. Whether you think the additional $30/€20 is actually worth it is an entirely different story, but it's nowhere near like what Microsoft intended to do with XBL price.

If it wasn't for the inclusion of the DLC I would have passed for now. But anyhow let's give them a year and see what we get, before we judge them!

Actually I am kind of excited about the expansion pass now. I was thinking it was just going to be N64 games and Genesis games. This will be a great deal for Animal Crossing players on day 1, but it makes me wonder what other non-virtual console games will get additional content. Will a game like Splatoon 3 get more maps for expansion pass subscriber's? Will you see new games added like Super Mario Galaxy 2? This might be Nintendo's version of a Microsoft game pass.

@sanderev why would i be stealing them when i own the origionals that im trying to preserve as collectors items? This was a great opportunity for me to be able to play these games and not have to break in to my collectors items. The difference is my local grocery store doesnt try to dupe me in to renting groceries like Nintendo have. If i buy a loaf of bread its mine to own. Poor example.

@Kirbo100 This especially. The online experience is no better than it was on the Wii U, which remains free today. I don't believe in paying for online play on consoles when you are already having to arrange your own internet connection with ISPs, but if I absolutely must pay for online, Nintendo should at least make sure it works better than before..

This sucks because I don't own Animal Crossing on the Switch and don't intend to ever own it.

So, why do I have to pay for it's DLC as part of the Switch Online expansion?

@Picola-Wicola Pretty sure you have to be online or at least do an online "check-in"

@Rayquaza2510 how is it low to claim that if you're obviously dissatisfied?
You do you, man.
Gc and gba games would be cool to have as well, that much is true.
Again as for me I'm fine with paying for this.

Poor pricing from Nintendo, hard pass for me

@megasean The trailer mentions at the 1:30 mark "An active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack is required to access DLC at no addition cost"
So you won't purchase it and lose access once your membership becomes inactive.

I cannot for the life of me understand why people are so upset about the price. It will cost me just over €3 a month for N64, Animal Crossing DLC and Sega. I think that is a bargain!

@DennisNOR I think there is the difference between you and most people here. Most it seems don't think it was already cheap. I think most already thought it was a barely adequate service. Hence why it was "cheap" compared to it's competition. Now that it's the same or more than the competition you have to compare apples to apples and it doesn't hold up well.

@DennisNOR "but then you are the problem, not Nintendo" is the type of argumentation that lets Nintendo basically get away with everything nowadays, not to mention the fact they still have a relatively strong "army" of fans who fail to realize that Nintendo is slowly but surely raising more and more eyebrows with its recent "evil corporation" approach.

Not to mention you are paying for membership that lets you play games older than 2 decades, games you can nowadays play for free on many of their older systems.

But sure, keep justifying Nintendo dude. Nobody can take that away from you.

Okay for that price, you better have monthly content. You can't just make us wait for more N64 and Mega Drive titles months in-between.

Is it 35 dollars a month or a year?

@westman98 Only Xbox Live gives you more to begin with.
Same with PS+

However I would prefer both to come with a basic pack or something like that, we don't have PS+ since the day it removed the only thing we cared about, and Xbox Live doesn't give enough for us compared to Ultimate.

But I can see enough people just wanting access to online and nothing more, and pay like 14.99 a year, I can see such subs sell a lot because most people get these sub mostly for that.

As for Nintendo, their regular 19.99 has a fine price, I just wish their online experience witht their own games was less sh***y..

@pnott A lot of us don't own, or ever intend to own, Animal Crossing for one thing. I would be willing to pay $10-$15 more a year just for N64 and Genesis, but not $30.

@ArmenianJedi13 @UmbreonsPapa

"As part of an active membership." Source: https://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/2021/animal-crossing-new-horizons-expands-into-new-waters-with-a-free-update-and-paid-expansion-on-nov-5/

@DennisNOR what people like you don't seem to understand is that unlike Nintendo, other game services that cost $50+ actually have good benefits such as stable online connection, native voice chat and new games that come out each month as part of that paid service, unlike Nintendo who hasn't upgraded their online since the Switch launched in 2017.

Remind me why I should feel bad about emulation and piracy again?

Wow this is bad. I could see if the service was improved with better features, but not just for old 64 and genesis games (which you can get on the eshop). I'm really disappointed in Nintendo these days.

@Rayquaza2510
It's even more weird when you realize that the Animal Crossing DLC is $25/€25 as a standalone purchase, so no regional pricing difference there.

This means purchasing NSO Expansion Pack in Europe is €5 cheaper than the Animal Crossing DLC, whereas the NSO Expansion Pack in America is $5 more expensive than the Animal Crossing DLC. America is getting screwed here.

Not a snowball's chance in hell I'm paying that much for a pretty poor service.
No interest in the AC DLC.
The Megadrive/N64 games would be a nice novelty for a little while but I'd forget about them pretty quick as I've done already with the NES/SNES titles.

BOYCOTT NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE, seriously nobody buy this garbage expansion that is an absurd price to pay for games that have been out for DECADES. I could undertstand a 5-15$ increase but 30??? wtf nintendo????

LMAO 50 bucks + DLC for a game I don't even own?

No thanks.

Goodbye Nintendo online service, I won’t pay this extra fee for a service that doesn’t give me much . I will pay the extra 5$ for the game pass ultimate instead.

Is it doable? Of course it is.
Will I buy? No thanks.

@InkIdols I actually respect people that voice their issues or b****, b****, b**** like you say. Way more than the ones that worship companies and just bend over an take it. That's the bah, bah, bah sheep mentality.

@YusseiWarrior3000 The Switch doesn't have voice chat. Your Phone used for the app has voice chat. LOL! Fail!

@bigheadwillie I haven't paid more than $30 for PS plus in over 5 years.

that price is absolutely disgusting its way too expensive for very little Nintendo are offering, do not subscribe to this

I'm debatting on wether or not to stop my online subscription, they are getting waay too greedy. If the service was great, with good quality features then it would be a good switch but this in no way is a good way to ramp up the price. For some n64 games and Genesis games? At least make your online subscription better Nintendo, do something about your UI and the lack of games. Add some Gameboy advance and Gamecube games and people may soften to it.

I am not happy about this. I mean, the value is there IF you want the Animal Crossing DLC - but I don't play AC nor do I want that. Why is it being forcibly included? I don't even have the game! This is way to expensive and they need to have an option without the AC content.

It's not even the price that annoys me here - it's the convoluted method of adding this content. N64, Animal Crossing, and Genesis games....like they don't even go together. Why does the online service have an "expansion pack"? Why is not one all inclusive service? I how does a billion dollar company have the worst approach to online marketing in 2021? Nintendo needs a shake up big time. This is just pathetic and I'm not getting the next console unless they get it together.

I’m wondering now, does this include the dlc for all 8 members? At first I was thinking of just buying the dlc but between the wife and little ones I have 6 accounts and they ALL play Animal Crossing a lot….. $150 for all or $80…… I’m kindle digging this pass more, if it includes more dlc it’ll pay itself off.

I think instead of boycotting or crying about it, or asking others to boycott, you should look at your financial situation. For a single person this isn’t worth it yet tbh. Family accounts? Good deal if more than 3 people play Animal Crossing

Weird *****.

Typical Nintendo….

Not paying double when I don't play Animal Crossing and I already have the Sega MegaDrive collection (which I don't touch too often TBH). I'll join the standard NSO for now and wait to see if Nintendo can add more value to the expansion pack in the future

@Gwynbleidd
European prices always include tax, while American prices don't.

$50 NSO Expansion Pack will be $54-55 once tax is included.

Yeah sorry Nintendo. I usually try to find a way to justify things like this but not this time. Not interested in Animal Crossing one iota and don’t play online so the service was purely for the classic games. The family plan has also increased immensely and it’s only across 2 systems for me. I ain’t paying like £60; more than twice my current.

Come back when you remove Animal Crossing BS from the price and stop forcing us to pay for stuff we don’t want. I can only hope subscription numbers collapse and the exec who thought of this gets handed the cardboard box.

Oh and Nintendo Life, yeah that subtitle may be technically true but it doesn’t add value for everyone. Frankly they could include a life size statue of your favourite Animal Crossing character programmed to say your name as part of the membership and it would still be worthless to me.

€40 per year + free Animal Crossing DLC
that's a deal to me

They'd make more money if it was cheaper.

@Arkay and because you and a lot of people are fine with paying too much money for too little content, other companies copy cat it because people are "fine with it"

Instead of giving off a statement to companies this is NOT right, most just pay for it with a big smile.

Reminds me of the smartphone market.

Again if it were only you and a small group of people that would be fine by me, sure get it.

But there are too many people like you that justify this, and companies are glad to give us less for more, because people will get it "anyhow"

Again I try to explain my point but it looks like you ignore it, so I give up.

So $19.99 for nes, snes, cloud, online access + $15.00 for n64 + $15.00 for genesis + free acnh dlc access =$49.99 a year. was hoping $5-$10 a year for each of those 2 system's games. IF gamecube ever happens guessing it'll probably be another $25-$30 extra.

@russell-marlow I mean our Internet plan is 80 euro a month, and that without TV which we don't use for anything but gaming (fibre glass is cheaper, but most appartements don't have the access to that)

We have Game Pass Ultimate, Humble Monthly and Crunchyroll Sub, thats pretty much it.

I don't count Nintendo Online sub, I get them on a prepaid card each year.

But I know plenty of people that waste 200 euro a month JUST on subscriptions and justify it, I would never be able to do that but some people are just too lenient to such stuff.

@megasean I hope Nintendo clarifies this

A punchline is supposed to make us laugh.

$50 for the addition of N64 and Genny games? That's ridiculous. Keep your Animal Crossing DLC garbage and gimme the games for $30 a year. This is beyond stupid.

A bit disappointed if I’m honest , I thought it would be a smaller increase surprised it doubled.

Way too expensive.. surely this will floop.

@DennisNOR Please delete your comment, it reeks of naiveté and corporate butt-kissing.

The lack of features compared to it's competitors is astounding and you're willing to defend to the end and say "gamers are entitled", well you lost the plot there, friend.

Feel free to burn all your money now that we're facing an economic crisis.

I am not impressed. I will prob sign up for a year but not renew. Cheaper then starting a n64 collection to play a few of these games, but in no way am I ok with the pricing of this a Nintendo is really going to have to do a better job with their online services in the near future for me to pay that a second time…

The frustrating aspect for me is not having the option to BUY the games.

I would rather for example, pay £30 on a bunch of N64 games on a virtual console like service and get to download/keep the games on my system, than pay £30 a year extra just to be able to access the games.

its about the option, for example they could still keep the expansion pack and have people pay the same price to access all the games but also let people who dont want the sub to buy games of their choice.

@SSGodLink no I think its $50 for the whole service.

@CharlieGirl The wording is still not very clear. It very well could mean you need an active membership to use the DLC if purchased through this method. Or maybe it means you get the DLC and at the same time, paying to maintain an active membership to use its online features.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying your absolutely wrong I now you read it. I just want Nintendo to come out and explicitly state how this works

@Rayquaza2510 I live in the States.
Where I live, internet is generally a bit more expensive and taxes are higher.

$50 for a subscription service where Nintendo refuses to give a schedule for additions and chooses a slow drip hell instead.

@westman98 I'm not sure you get what I was saying, I was only referring to the fact that MS did it to make the next tier higher pricing more palatable. Ie.. they were inflating one price to make you go hey look at this great deal that is more expensive, and therefor push you into the higher tier. My whole comment was, how long before Nintendo does exactly that. In context of that it would be exactly the same.

@Gwynbleidd
Taxes will differ by state but for a $50 product, the tax will only differ by a few cents across state lines.

The point is that America is definitely getting screwed by this. In fact, this may be the first time when Nintendo's regional pricing screws over Americas as it's usually the Europeans who get screwed (assuming differences in regional pricing occur in the first place.)

@UmbreonsPapa Yeah, and when that membership lapses? Or a decade from now, when the online subscription is offline? Bye bye to the DLC.
Renting DLC is a shady practice.

@Dr_Lugae Yes. That's what I mean. $30, when all I want is Ocarina of Time. No thanks.

@electrolite77 because people are too easy on this.

Regular sub is 19.99 a year, gives you NES and SNES games, online play. cloud saves and some other stuff.

For 39.99 (in my case) they give you N64 games and Mega Drive games.

That is the whole issue here, if it was like 10 euro more then it would have been fine, but they actually double the price (and even worse in the US) for some old games.

Which they could sell on their own, but it seems making people pay for access instead of paying to keep it is a better type of business to them.

If I looked at it from my own perspective, then they would need to justify any price hike for these games they give us access too, so I am fair and look at it from the way it is, and not from how I think about it.

My problem is that people justify this. just don't and even if you get it then at least admit it is a bad deal overall and that you don't mind it.

But no people prefer to make it sound like it is in fact "a good deal" instead of saying "I don't mind overpaying and being part of the problem"

The problem being that companies will go on with such practice, I mean some people totally forgot why stuff like loot boxes or micro transactions exist nowdays, and back then I and a seemingly too small group of people were against it and avoided it.

But the masses, yes the masses concluded "this is fine" (insert meme) and now the market is full of this parasitic way of earning extra cash from people.

Less for more, and now even Nintendo has discovered it can take use of people by applying that method.

So it’s £17 for the extras
Depends how much they add as on Wii u there wasn’t many titles and they were £6.49 each.

@Cipher36
Okay, I understand what you were trying to say for Microsoft (i.e. XBL vs GamePass). Thanks for clarifying.

Not sure Nintendo will just double the out-of-the-blue price of the base NSO from $20 to $40 just to make the Expansion Pack look better. What Microsoft tried to do with XBL pricing was straight-up unheard of, even by Nintendo standards lol.

@RiasGremory I'm not one to complain about prices, and I think the current annual rate of $20 is more than reasonable ... but I think it's not unfair to ask why the cost increases by 150 percent simply by adding two new console libraries and with comparatively fewer games. It was $20 for online play, NES and SNES, and now it's $50 for those things plus N64 and Mega Drive. How is that comparable value? To each his or her own, but I don't see the need to upgrade until and unless the N64 library increases.

Wth Nintendo...??? They really messed up with this. If you don't care about Animal Crossing, this is crazy expensive. Gonna pass until they get off the high horse.

I'll pass this time. I'm not interested in animal crossing and the price really too much for ONLY N64 games (mega drive ones are everywhere...)

I'm wondering if they have some data that says AC owners Don't have switch online...
Otherwise it makes no sense.

I don't have (or want) AC so why would I opt in to this? You alienate 70%ish of the console base...

I wish they didn’t include the ACNH stuff, this is really irritating.
I’d probably have been happy with the price without it included even! Now I feel reluctant as it’s something I’m paying for but would never use.

Only option is to find some people to club together with for a family/friends membership.
Or wait for the N64 games I really want to play… I’ve gone from a definite, to a likely no.

@oconnoclast Yeah I agree it's a bit high for what's offered if you don't care about AC. I Guess it really depends on if they are adding more to the service in the near future. If they add more consoles and more DLC then it's great. But it doesn't say whether they are doing that or not. I'm currently signed up for almost every game service there is though so I would always be doing this.

@NintenGuy i get it, differing opinions are good

I'll get it but I do think it's a bit much price wise for those of us that don't play animal crossing.

I have a feeling I will be buying the expansion separately or just skipping it (they at first advertised it as $24.99 by itself). There isn't enough being offered by the Genesis/N64 that I care about to justify paying $45 more a year.

Sure, it works out to be about $11.50 per person/year, but the fact is that I would probably be the only one of the 7 to ever touch the classic games.

Nintendo is really going to have to first clarify their poorly planned announcement, and then sell me on the value of the product. Right now, I am not seeing it.

IF, and that's a big if, Nintendo were to include the DLC as a bonus and it was yours forever, plus they kept rotating which DLC was available (AC 1st, then Pokemon, Hyrule Warriors, etc) then this would be a good deal.
They're not going to do that because that would be good for us. And it feels like Nintendo has joined the likes of Activision and EA with hatred and mockery of their fanbases.

@CharlieGirl That's definitely true. But to be fair not many people are going to care about this Animal Crossing DLC in a decade. I'm sure by then we will be playing a new Animal Crossing and probably still over paying for something.

My biggest issue is that I don't play Animal Crossing, I just want the N64 games =/

Yes I will upgrade for that price x ocarina first xx

I just noticed something, most of the cost for this expansion is from the Animal Crossing DLC.

Without it, the price of the expansion would have been ten bucks at most or they could have even added it to the current subscription with no price increase.

This is nothing but pure greed and Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves.

There is no defending this. Nintendo basically admitted that the N64 and Genesis games alone were not worth a massive price increase to the service.

Hence why they are forcing the Animal Crossing DLC on everyone to present the illusion of value.

But this is nothing but pure greed from Nintendo and they wonder why people just go download roms off the internet.

Maybe they should change their mascot to Wario. At least they would be upfront on how they offer their services.

Old dirty ninty doing some shady greedy moves to scam their fans and some are still applauding them!

VIRTUAL CONSOLE OR RIOT!!!!

For those of you complaining about price, each Nintendo 64 game on the Wii U eShop costs $10 each, and how many games we're getting on launch, like 8 games, plus the Sega Genesis ones. The price is correct. Those of you complaining want to get these games individually, like it was on the Wii and Wii U VC. Which means, you want to pay more for them than what the subscription asks. Think before you speak.

@RiasGremory Xbox and PS have GOOD online, for starters, and better extras, not a bunch of roms.

There’s isn’t a single N64 game that justifies more than doubling the price.

@westman98 Totally agree that what they tried to do was almost criminal, but that's marketing. Sadly, I'm in marketing so I see this all to often. Personal opinion, I think Nintendo's service is shoddy at best and I think this ask is a bit over the top, which leads me to think they will play the superiority card at some point and raise the base sub to force people into it. If this doesn't go well they will be too stubborn to back off and probably double down thinking they know best. Just a feeling.

@westman98 Nintendo needs that same type of consumer backlash like Microsoft received.

Because who are they kidding when they think they could just charge more for old 3D games with poor peer-to-peer online multiplayer connections and barely any new features.

No free new games like Gamepass or PS+ every month, no online chat, no game discounts.

@BoostPower "scam"? What on earth are you talking about?

They're not exactly trying to mislead anyone and the regular membership is still available if you don't think the expanded one is worth it.

For me it is a really good deal with 3 Switches and copies of Animal Crossing in the house.

I'm looking beyond Animal Crossing for those who don't own it that maybe they will continue this model and future DLC will also be free in the higher tier subscription or paid for with the basic.

I honestly think this is where it is heading so within a year or so you will have other DLC packages for other games free in the top tier price.

I know it's not a fair comparison as this is RRP, but I paid £35 for a year of Game Pass Ultimate, and the same price for a year of Switch Online with N64 games does not compare very well with that. Hopefully it will be quite easy to get it significantly cheaper. I think I'd probably just about be okay with £20 a year. I think I paid £12 for my current year of Switch online, so I don't know how that compared to RRP.

@Edu23XWiiU on the wiiu you didn't have to pay for online. So I just bought an N64 game of my choice for $10. Compared to this price. It's a steal.

@YusseiWarrior3000 What argument? I destroyed your comment with facts. Simple as that. Vivox isn't native to the Switch hardware. Hench why all but 5 or so games have to use the app for voice chat. Try harder next time chief.

@RiasGremory got a year of ps plus recently for £25 & they atleast offer some relatively recent games every month

@Duncanballs As someone earlier mentioned... I wonder if everyone on a family plan would get the AC expansion or only the primary. If you were a family or group that all played AC (and they all got it) then this would indeed be a good deal. If only the primary gets it, then not so much.

@InkIdols but I don't have/want ac

Wow, that pricing hike is absurd.

I would pay $50 if I knew every month I was getting new games (no more of this drip feed crap), if I had COMPLETE or near COMPLETE access of the entire NES and SNES lineup, had access to a large number of N64 games, and access to games to other consoles (Gameboy Advance, Gamecube, DS, Genesis).

Seeing that I'm not a fan of AC, plus N64 was one of the my least favorite consoles from Nintendo, I will likely pass on this.

@Funneefox It's for a year

@Edu23XWiiU you want to take a leaf out of your own book. In 10 years time when nintendo online doesnt exist where are your subscription games going to be? Exactly. I still own all the games i paid for on the wiiu and Wii virtual console and they wont be going anywhere, anytime. They are mine to keep. I didnt rent them.

Wow. I think I'm just going to stick with my base account for now. You're going to have to sweeten this pot a whole lot more before I jump in, Nintendo. N64 VC isn't worth that much to me.

£15 extra isnt too bad but the whole thing is lacklustre. We need gameboy etc on there too in order to make it worth it.

Wow that's rough. No thanks.

@russell-marlow If you don't think the N64 and Megadrives games are worth the extra charge. Are you being forced to buy it? Nope, is there the standard subscription? Yes.

I'd doubt MS would have got any backlash if their proposed increase was a separate membership and attached to expanded features/games. But they were trying to charge double for what they already offered.

Well, I'm not angry about this but I am disappointed. You can get most of these Genesis games on the switch for cheap. The N64 games are cool but not worth it at the moment. I have still have NES and SNES games I want to play in the service. I'll stick with the base sub for now. $40 would have been a better price point. It may be worth $50 if they add GBA. In general, I think their pricing is high. Warioware was fun but probably not worth $50. I paid $30 from having a gift card and it was definitely worth that. That's just my opinion.

The price isn't all that bad, but it's weird. Twice the price for what seems just a tiny bit more. It feels as if one is subsidising the actual online service for those without expansion pack. I would rather choose away NES, snes, genesis and and keep the old price.

The current NSO has been a bit of a waste of money for me so far, so I'm most likely canceling. Had it been a small (like $5) increase or had GBA and GCN games I would have considered at least getting a year of the upgrade, but the current iteration of NSO isn't worth it to me

@RiasGremory PS+ is regularly on sale for $45 a year. You get three games a month (sometimes new releases). Nintendo (for a higher price) gives you online without chat and a few 25 to 30 year old games every three months. PS+ is clearly the better deal.

@CharlieGirl welp nvm lol they’re robbing people blind

Can we at least get games based on other media like TMNT IV, Batman NES and GoldenEye 007, this time, with a guarantee that they won't leave?

Yeah, thanks but no thanks Nintendo. Bunch of dummies working on this one…

It's an extra $2.50 a month for some great Genesis and N64 games. The price is fine.

@RiasGremory No, you pay $60 on PlayStation (the same on Xbox I think?). That's only $10 more, but you get steep discounts, monthly free games that aren't 25+ years old. Additionally, there is also native voice chat, party systems, and much more.

Nintendo can't even get the Smash netcode right.

I have always felt that the $20 membership was justified, even with their lackluster services, as I know that there are costs to keeping these services running. That said, at the moment, I can't justify the cost of this expansion.

The majority of the Genesis games are also included with the Genesis collection that is frequently on sale on the eshop for $15 or less... I bought this collection years ago, so despite loving some of these games, I can already play most of them on my switch.

I am personally not really interested in the AC DLC. For that matter making DLC that requires the purchase of a specific game a major tent pole of the service just feels like an odd choice to me. AC has sold 33 million units, but with over 90 million switch systems in the wild, that still amounts to this being a feature that is only relevant to roughly a third of your potential audience. Even less, when you consider that there are customers like myself who may have purchased AC, but have no interest in returning to it.

I would love to have access to the N64 games, but that alone doesn't justify the $30 price increase for me.

The issue isn't the price itself, it is what you are getting for that price, and, in my opinion, the services and initial line-ups as offered are a hard sell at $50. I'll be keeping my $20 subscription for the time being, until Nintendo can bolster this expansion service with additional titles and benefits to make it worth the price of admission.

Not worth the cost imo. I don't play lame-o Animal Crossing and I can play all the other games on the original systems and emulators.

It costs more than double the first tier's price.

Just use RetroArch.

60 pounds for a Family Account? Hell no! We'll stick to the regular options and play my cartridges, thank you very much...

Was there any pricing on 1 or 3 months? Unless I see a ton of new games coming out regularly for all of NSO, I'm not so sure about that pricing.

I purchased a Family Subscription about a week ago, only three in use at the moment, but it'll only be me interested in N64.

So if you aren't a fan of Animal Crossing what's the point? You are paying for something which you have no use for, what a strange pricing idea. I hope this absolutely tanks because I won't be paying that.

Steam Deck can't get here soon enough.

Nintendo managed to ruin my excitement (and that of a lot of people) to play N64 and Mega Drive on Switch Online because of a damn Animal Crossing DLC.

@RiasGremory Those services have way better online service and offer newer games for free. Nintendo's online infrastructure is trash and they trickle feed emulated classics. Your comparison fails.

@victordamazio JUSTIFICATION OF PIRACY = I want dis

Was only interested in the Genesis games, and mostly just Ristar. So......what’s the opposite of tempting...?

That is actually more than I expected price wise, I do think it is worth it for N64 games but they have to do better about adding them more frequently.

@Dr_Lugae I just want to play F-zero X, do you think that's a fair price? why they don't give me the option to buy that game separately like the previous consoles? Did you know online was free because it doesn't cost any cent to them, they don't even use dedicated servers. So they ask you to pay for air and now they ask you to pay more to rent an N64 emulator. I deserve better, maybe you don't.

£3 a month seems fine. A lot of whiny people here

It does sound like a lot but it's really not that bad. $20/year was already ridiculously cheap. $50 sounds like a big jump but it's still less than $5/month if you think about it. Cheaper than PS4/5 and Xbox.

Well this is bad. Nice job Nintendo, way to shoot yourselves in the foot just when things were really going great for you.

Ridiculously greedy and shortsighted. I was fully prepared to upgrade, but now they get nothing.

I think I’ll buy the AC dlc because I know what I’m getting for my money. But then they’re gonna have to really add a lot to the N64 and swag stuff to get my to bite later as I’ll already have the DLC.

Not the best strategy

I'm happy with the UK Family Plan price personally. It will be benefitting four devices, and will also give all of us access to the new Animal Crossing DLC as well as N64 content.. for me, that's very affordable. And for others, the individual plan works out at what... £3 a month? It's nothing...

@NinChocolate

Appalling
Disturbing
Off-putting
Revolting

Take your pick, I got more lol.

@Picola-Wicola you can be offline to play them. Every so often you have to be connected to the internet for the system to check on your access though

Nintendo are really trying it on. Oh well, I’ll jump in when they aren’t taking the mick, and that’s it.

@Ralizah £3 a month is greedy? I can't think of another service that charges that, especially gaming services...

Utterly disappointing... I really thought it would be an additional $10 - 15, but $30!? Completely Lame.

@CharlieGirl I don't disagree if this is a service rather than traditional DLC. However, someone pointed out that it doesn't make sense to have this as a service and as a standalone option. One kind of interferes with the purpose of the other. And a good chunk of the content is brought back to your regular island. I can't, for a second, imagine a piece of furniture or wall partitions are gonna disappear on your regular island if your membership lapses.

I will definitely agree that it's a major misstep to not have a plan that doesn't feature the DLC. I don't really know what the thinking is behind that

Yeaaaa this is a no for me, I still struggle to justify paying the normal sub. I dont really play online that much and the snes/nes games arent consistently released. I pay for ps+ and get 3 games each month (6 when we had ps3/ps4/vita) and double discount. I would rather have the option to buy n64/snes/nes/gba games seperatly, I would be totally fine paying £2-£5 for each game instead of £40 and probably get 6 months with nothing to show for it

I don´t get how will this paid membership will handle the DLC, if I stop paying the upgraded membership I lose the DLC?
This DLC will be available to all members of the family plan?

@Casco they should at least offer to sell each game individually for 7-10bucks/game so people who want can buy the games they want to play-this way N would make much more money.

@Cipher36 yes I am hoping that all members get in the same way that they all get access to everything else.

Could be an awesome package if they put the big guns on there.!

DIddy Kong 4 player online
Golden eye 4 player online
Perfect dark 4 player online

I was willing to go $30, maybe even $40, but $50 is out of the question, especially as what is on offer right away isn't exactly stellar and we don't know how frequent the updates will be. Wish Nintendo had just stuck with the original Wii's Virtual Console and kept growing it over time. What it's doing now is especially lame when you look at Game Pass, which is what Nintendo should be trying to emulate if it wasn't going to stick with the VC. Pay a sub, download games to the harddrive and buy them, sometimes at a discount, to keep them even if you decide not to re-sub.

@Bentendo1609 Yes, $30 extra a year is WAY too much for what they're offering. Especially if you're not interested in the Animal Crossing DLC in the first place.

@Ooccoo_Jr Right! People are willing to pay £49.99 multiple times throughout the year to play the latest first party games, yet £34.99 once, to play all my childhood favourites for a whole year is unreasonable? I don't get some people, I really don't.

If I'm honest it's exactly what I expected. I figured it would be $5 a month extra with a discounted yearly option around 40-50. I'd pay it if I trusted Nintendo to regularly to put out content on the service, but they already trickle feed everything other console. Sometimes with questionable games

@Mattock1987 Why are people considered whiney because they recognize a bad deal. It's perfectly fine to be someone who was hoping for a good deal and ends up seeing a crappy deal. It's a bummer, but I can promise you we won't lose sleep over Nintendo's greed. I can only speak for myself, but it's not about the money, it's about offering a pretty crappy service and wanting a lot for it. After today, I'll move on and this "expansion" will be out of sight out of mind. No worries.

@Lord Perfect Dark is rumoured already, Goldeneye is never going to happen, and Diddy Kong could, especially with Microsoft being very open to releasing IP's for other platforms.

@Nightwalker
What are they getting away with ? Nintendo is unique, family friendly and do what they can so most people can have access to their content. They are always cheap and create content that puts a smile on many. They are the most indie FriendLy platform, just look at all the free advertisement they Get. The NSO is not something you need, the old games etc is a choise.. and the small amount of money they Get from this goes to improve Even further, and they have to take some payment, because the game industry has changed, and they have actually put some work into this, so they deserve the money.

Some would argue that their AAA titles dosent go on sale, but Come on... in my opinion there is 1 company that you can trust in delivery of high quality, and thats Nintendo.

And for last, they have to limit the content and spread it out or Else people would be overwhelmed and it would give a negative effect instead. They give you time to play thru games before loading another.

This is not as good of a deal as the original online… but we may have been spoiled by that judging by the reactions I’m seeing. $20 a year for almost the whole library of SNES and NES classics plus online play is an insane bargain.

Asking for $30 more per year to have access to most worthwhile N64 games isn’t all that bad imho. Not as good as the initial deal, but that’s still means that just a few bucks a month gives us access to OOT, Majora’s, Mario 64, Kart 64, Paper Mario, Starfox, and with online play added.

I’m not thrilled about the price hike, but I’m in.

@Anti-Matter

No, but if enough people get upset and don’t buy it, Nintendo might lower the price

@Shiiva if you have limited gaming time, which most people do, old games are just curiosities. I think Nintendo has overestimated the value of n64 games…

@OniLink You can buy it on it's own and have it forever, or you can get the expansion pack and have it included is my understanding. Depends whether you care about N64 and Genesis games, but then £34.99 once a year, or £2.91 a month, isn't exactly breaking the bank.

@Rayquaza2510 I see it as an expansion as it's rightfully called, we have these games being added on top of the nes and snes games, so to me it's worth it.
It's okay that we have different opinions, that way we can exchange ideas.
I wish you a fine weekend, my good sir.

Nope, sounds like a crap deal to me. I own most of these games on original hardware. And I really don't play online. Waaaaaaaaay over priced.

@Wesker I understand what you're saying, but I do have that time and I freaking adore the N64 library. My old console packed up a few months ago, so the announcement was like Christmas come early for me, and for a lot of others I'm sure.

I'd rather just buy the Animal Crossing DLC permanently and pay $5-10 extra for the N64 & Genesis games. It's even worse because you know they're still not gonna use that money to improve their online servers or license more games for the services, they're just gonna pocket it like they've been doing.

@Edu23XWiiU

You can’t apply Virtual Console pricing to these subscription services. That argument totally falls apart if you look at how many NES/SNES games were added to the base online service vs. the Virtual Console price of those games. Clearly, Nintendo is not basing the Switch Online service price on Virtual Console prices.

Also, you own Virtual Console games, as opposed to renting them through the Switch Online service.

So no, the price is not objectively correct. Think before you speak.

Best deal, pick up the mini consoles a few months after they go on sale. You get a whole new console, controllers and games you can keep. All emulated just like this service. Get it on sale and that's even better. I've seen the Genesis for as little as $35.00.

You know, I like the fact it will include bonuses like DLC content for other games, but it still sounds quite expensive. Imagine how much it would cost if GameCube or Wii games came one day....
Good thing there will be a pro-discount.

@Hikingguy yeah no kidding. It should know better. I don’t even have internet at my apartment but I can use my phone as a hotspot so it’s never been an issue for me.

Imagine what it'll be like once we get Gamecube, DS, and...I dunno, Dreamcast games.

NSO + Expansion Pack Deluxe! Only $129.99!

@Gwynbleidd In that scenario, yes that price is waaaaaaay too much. However, that's not my particular situation. I've got around a dozen games I remember playing to death in the new expansion, and I can't wait to dive back into those, StarFox especially, and around 30 games recommended to me by friends, including Link to the Past and Sin & Punishment, both of which I've never played before. So while Nintendo is over-valuing nostalgia for people like your good self, for me it's something very special, and as I said, a single payment of £34.99 is more than reasonable.

W. T. Actual F.?!?

They are more than DOUBLING the price to add N64, Genesis, and a Freaking DLC for a single game?!?!?! WTF are they smoking? They're making Jim Ryan look good!

Think about this for a moment, the EXPANSION costs MORE than the actual base membership. And all it adds are two ancient consoles and a DLC. They are charging you $30 a year per user, or $45 per family to access ROMs for 2 ancient consoles and a single DLC pack you could just buy once. And forcing you to rent at ultra premium, DLC for a game you might not even own, if you wish to access ROMs for old consoles.

The "Family" membership which is required even for multiple logins on the same console to use it, costs almost as much as Game Pass. Which gives you access to tons of big AAA games, all first party games, and can be shared by all users on the machine.

This has got to be the most egregious cash grab in gaming history.

Animal crossing was already their most anti consumer title. This is dreadful

NintendoLife reader of 8 years, first time commenter.

I have been sniffing around the internet for weeks in search of news on the expansion pack, such was my excitement. But why do I have to buy DLC for a game I have no intention of ever owning?!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure Animal Crossing is a swell time. But let the AC lovers buy their DLC and let the rest of us “expand” our retro game collection! Bundling the two together at a higher price isn’t my idea of a Win-Win.

I can afford it but I sure as hell can’t support it. Standard Switch Online it is then.

As someone who shares the Family Membership with 4 other people, 3 of whom are interested in the Animal Crossing DLC, this is actually a good deal.

Paying $70 for NSO Family Plan across 5 people, with 4 of us immediately getting access to the Animal Crossing DLC, is a helluva lot better than paying $25x4 = $100 total just for the Animal Crossing DLC.

@Shiiva I feel you. Personally, if I have 1 hour per day to play, I’d rather spend that time playing the modern iterations than returning to old games. They’re nice to have and all, but not worth a significant outlay. £20 for online is fine, NES and SNES games are just sweeteners. Swelling the price to £35 for adding N64 and MegaDrive games seems ridiculous to me.

Guess that Banjo-Kazooie license wasn't cheap.

Anyway, I'm probably waiting to see how things go before I decide whether to get the Expansion or not. Really hope there's a non- Animal Crossing DLC option. If I get it, I'm changing to the Family Membership plan and share with my sister and nephew, but that'll be on February, when my NSO expires.

@Cipher36 well yes I’d have preferred a lower price, but £3 a month to play hundreds of £ worth of games isn’t terrible. People are getting too entitled, expecting a lot for almost nothing, or preferably nothing.

This is absurd. This could have been amazing but then they decide to force you into paying for the AC expansion. Their line of reasoning is probably that you get expansion for free but that's even more ridiculous. The base subscription offers a lot more than the expansion for less money ... utterly absurd.

@Fazermint
Animal Crossing is "anti consume"? How?

To put this in plain American "GO F*** YOURSELF NINTENDO". What a pile of crap.... $50.00 USD for N64 games, SUPER tired, worn out Genesis games and an Animal Crossing DLC pack. I call BS. What if you were one of the few who didn't get Animal Crossing, what do you do with the unusable DLC? I will be sticking with my regular Online plan.

Ill just stick to playing SNES & NES games on my SNES mini & N64 , mega drive & dreamcast games on my ps classic

Pfft, don't play animal crossing and it's quite an added cost just to play mega drive and n64 especially when I have both original consoles hooked up to a crt and ready to go!

No thanks.
Too expensive!!!

I mean the price is not bad at all, as it was not changed (4 bucks per month), but you have to buy the whole year in advance ... that´s questionable

For me, my major gripe is the fact that Nintendo are trying to charge me extra for something i wont use and should quite frankly not be part of this package or at least be tiered further. The AC DLC! Yes i want the N64 games, yes i want the N64 controller but im not interested in the majority of the price hike being charged to something that i will never take advantage of. There should have been 3 tiers. Standard yearly sub with the current 2 classic consoles included at the current £17.99, mid sub including the 4 classic consoles for an extra ££5-£10-£15 and then top tier sub for those that play AC at the revealed price. You can buy the DLC seperate so why make people pay for it in the sub? It doesnt make sense. For those that are going to get full potential out of this subscription its awsome and im happy for you but for some of us others that dont play AC we just have to either like it and cough up or lump it and forfeit the extra 2 classic consoles.
Atleast everyones stopped moaning about Metroid Dread now 🤷‍♂️😂

@Bearzilla823 but that´s per year, meaning per month it is 4 bucks, so no change

"Why does Sony and Microsoft get to charge so much for their online services? We want free money."

"Because they actually provide messaging services, the ability to invite and proper parties all on the console without needing to use a dumb phone app?"

"Ew, who cares about all that? Just toss in some digital N64 and Genesis games that will barely cost us anything and hike up the price to $50. These suckers will buy it."

And you all will. There's no point in complaining. Nintendo fans can never stand firm on anything. You'll all buy it and make peace with it however your brains will rationalize it. It's why whenever I see Nintendo announce something, whatever it is is set in stone unlike when other companies get flak and decide to change their minds...

@Mauzuri

If so, that's ridiculous and Nintendo shouldn't have included them. The majority of the Genesis games they're offering on the service are already playable on the Switch in the Genesis Collection, SEGA Ages releases, Contra collection, Castlevania collection, etc.

Meh I'll just wait until Banjo-Kazooie, Paper Mario, and Ogre Battle 64 make it to the service first then maybe I'll think about upgrading but for now NES and Super NES are just fine. As for Sega Genesis my Mega EverDrive and MegaSD already got everything I need from that so yeah the expansion pak is a passed to me.

@DragotheKomodo

Not for most of its not.

I don’t own animal crossing and have no intentions of getting it. I already own most of the Sega Genesis games on the service through various collections on my Switch, PS4 and PS3.

I literally just wanted the N64 games. That’s it. And even then I really just wanted to play Star Fox and OOT and Majora’s Mask when it releases.

I’d have gladly payed ten bucks for the upgrade. Maybe even 15. But this is absolutely highway robbery.

That’s almost the cost of a regular PS Plus subscription. Not that I ever pay 60 bucks. I grab it on sale for around 35-40 bucks on sale. And PS online has parties and voice chat. And decently stable online gameplay. None of which NSO offers.

@BlackenedHalo but I do not own AC, and I do not want another collection of worn out Genesis games. The only thing I looked at was the N64 because my daughter loves banjo. I could have seen a $10-$15 jump but not $30.

@robchacot Exactly my position. I've been on this site for years and years and I actually made an account today because of how ridiculous the pricing is.

@DennisNOR if your definition of high quality is releasing numerous games lacking/having cut content over the last 5 years to drip feed them updates and dlc masquerading as "support" then maybe

Nope! Hard pass for my family. Waaaaay too much for this. I hope very few people commit to this and reprice it.....but I'm not counting on it either.

@Caryslan Don't kid yourself, it would still have been $50 even without the Animal Crossing DLC.

How on earth did Nintendo think this is acceptable pricing? The “expansion pack” is more expensive than the original product! A more reasonable price would be along the same lines as DLC for a main game, which is about 33-50%, not 130%!
If Nintendo wishes to find out how you chase away their customers, this is it! I am even thinking about canceling my current membership over this pricing.

@Mauzuri Which would beg the question, then why go with the Genesis? Considering they have ample amounts of their own consoles they could use, it seems dumb to add Sega and make your customers upset. If this is the case I'd say, ummm Sega, sorry but no. We'll just let people buy the Genesis collection and all the Sega Ages games already on our console.

This is way way way more than I was expecting. I’ll probably try it out for the remainder of the year (with my prorate) but I’ll be canceling if they don’t seriously deliver. They better be announcing more consoles.

@Yorumi I don't even have words.....I just needed to summon you for emotional support.

@Bearzilla823 yeah of course, 20 bucks vs 50 bucks, but when you compare 4 bucks per month (NSO) vs 4 bucks per month (NSO+EP), that is the same

Personally, i'd be perfectly OK with doubling the price if it would "guarantee" expansion of the service in the future.
Or rather, a slightly faster expansion than now.

But why bundle AC DLC to it? O.o
I mean, sure, the AC crowd is the prime target for Nintendo Online...but they don't strike me as the prime demographic for retro games.
This bundle seems to have something either core demographic doesn't care about all that much...

Weird move.

Personally I already have most of the games in many other formats, Ie.. original consoles, mini's, other collections on other systems... so my $35.00 family plan was mostly for the internet gaming and back-ups for the family ( peer to peer for the win :/ ). I wonder how many other people are in the same boat and will be passing. I always considered it like $35.00 yearly = $20.00 for the online and $7.50 for each console. Adding $45 a year for two additional consoles ($22.50 each) seems a bit off. Now as was stated, if Nintendo had a good track record of releasing games (not a trickle every so often)... oh heck, it would still be too much.

Vote with your wallets people. This is ridiculous!

Nintendo can charge whatever they want because they know a certain percentage of hardcore nintendo fans will pay no matter what and there are millions upon million of newer player base who are willing to pay for new content they have never played but have heard about how incredible a LOT of these games are. They will make BANK on this sub model and good for them.

Though I don't agree with the pricing, I won't complain......nor will I give Nintendo my business. I'll stick with the twenty dollar model, which I feel is beyond fair. However, fifty dollars is kind of a bridge too far for me.

If you don't like it, vote! Don't give in because you desperately want to play Ocarina of Time, or Starfox 64! Send a message if you don't like it. If that pricing structure tanks, then they have two choices: remove the expansion altogether or reduce the price! Remember when the 3DS underperformed, out of the gate? Guess what Nintendo did! They lowered the price by $80, and gave early adopters twenty games! Voting with your wallet does work!

If you cave in and subscribe, then you have only yourself to blame.

I'm curious about the proclamation, from some, about these games (N64 and Genesis) being available on other consoles or people still owning their original devices. What exactly is the complaint here if that is the case and you already have access to these games? Couldn't you just stick with the basic membership plans and go about your day?

And for those that only wanted a segment of this expansion, I'd understand the complaints if Nintendo, at any point, indicated there would be variants on this expansion. But as far as it seemed from the start, there was the base membership tiers and then the expansion. So I'm not sure if there are any surprises there that by paying for this membership

I'm also beginning to wonder if the Animal Crossing DLC actually factors into the cost? Is the price of the expansion$49.99 and one of the perks includes getting this DLC for free or is it a perk built in to the pricing that as long as you maintain an active membership, you are entitled to any upcoming DLC from other games at no additional cost and this just happens to be the first pack to be featured? I guess an argument can be made for a tier that doesn't feature this, if it is a general perk, in case it's a game you don't own or plan to own.

My post isn't meant to completely defend Nintendo here. There's probably a million ways they could have approached this. But I do wonder if, for the AC DLC aspect, if there's more for Nintendo to clarify than what was shared today.

Personally, I'm fine with the idea of a subscription service of some sorts for classic games. I realized during the Wii and Wii U VC days that even though I have fond memories for many of these games, I ended up buying, played them once and then never again.

@BanjoPickles Pretty much this. I might just eventually stick with the basic plan as well. But at the end of the day, make noise with your wallet and Nintendo will probably respond accordingly.

Its as simple as this.. for 50 bucks a year you Get access to 10s, if not soon in the 100s, quality games, online, AC content and other exclusivity. Its awesome value if you want it. If you want call of duty etc, Get an Xbox series s with gamepass.
Dont Get the problem at all. Stop subscribing on YouTube, Twitch, Apple music, Netflix, hbo, Amazon prime, Disney etc etc etc if its to much money... if you Get off One of those, you can afford that little sum of money Nintendo is asking for, for so much great content. I can understand that some dont see the value, but why complain ? Nintendo offers Nintendo content that suits their users.. AC is on fire and great focus by Nintendo. All the new great dlc is gonna make many log in again.

This is a depressing joke/reality. It's even more expensive in CDN$ too smh. Hard Pass.

@DennisNOR

Lol there’s not 100 quality games between the NES and SNES collections and they’ve been around since 2018.

You suddenly expect them to up their output?

You must work for NOA marketing.

And honestly, animal crossing is the issue here. I have nothing against it’s fans. But it’s not my kind of game. Two thirds of Switch owners don’t have it. Why make us all pay for it?

sigh Listen Ninty (Navi Voice), I would literally gladly pay $100/year for a comprehensive & extensive Nintendo Virtual Console Subscription Service (basically like every other popular streaming/subscription service currently) if Nintie would just give us all the platforms + catalogues we want on competent legal proprietary emulators i.e. with rewind, turbo, more save states, downloadable/uploadable/transferrable saves, cheats, scanned game manuals, multiple suspend play, custom button-mapping, online netplay, filters, borders/themes and/or widescreen adaptation... most of which is already included notable free emulators out in the wild for some time now.

C'mon pick it up and get it together with the NSO service quick, fast and in a hurry please Nintendo! ... Cuz this? This ain't it right now.

... Wun can only hope.

I'm not paying anymore extra money for this garbage.
This expansion is basically an advertisement to emulating.

@DennisNOR I am not sure if someone has already pointed this out to you, but the biggest gripe (for me at least) is paying for something you will never keep. I've said before in this article that I don't mind paying for games a la virtual console model. Money by itself is not the issue. Your suggestion regarding stopping subscriptions to Netflix, Disney, Youtube etc does not solve the issue. Then there is the fact that it doesn't matter what games they offer now with online play, the online experience is still crap, and no better than before. We are not paying for online infrastructure; just the privilege of using our own internet connections. You said why complain? Why not? The offering might not change if we say anything, but it definitely won't change if we are silent.

I love you to Nintendo!

This is more expensive than I would have liked, but I still don’t think it’s unreasonable considering the cost of PSN. I’m still upgrading mostly for Mario Kart 64 online play. Ideally, I’d be way happier with this at $40 a year without the AC DLC.

Like many here, I was excited for the expansion, but I'm noping out of here with those prices.

Even the base subscription is overpriced in my opinion, I use it only for save data cloud. Lol at this package.

@TheRedComet
Because its one of their big hits right now this gen, and the content that arrives is a big puller. Maybe more dlc will show up for other games under that umbrella.

Its your opinion that the content is bad content, but my guess is that a very big % of the switch users are gonna unsubscribe from non or 1 of their 10-15 subscriptions that costs 60-120 $ each year so they can have the new nso subscription. And why ? Because majority likes the content, and its optional to unsubscribe later, like with everything else.

Thank god People are actually not buying into this, good on you people.

I already have Mario 3D all stars, the Genesis classics collection, a 3ds with ocarina and majora, and a Wii U with whatever on it. Furthermore, I do not have animal crossing. If it were a $10 upgrade for 64 and Genesis maybe, but asking me to pay for ACNH crap is a laugh riot.

@victordamazio Sterling?

@Ooccoo_Jr 40 is allright for me...

It feels so unreal to say that Nintendo is a pretty freaking expensive company to buy from, but that's just the harsh reality now.

Manufacturing the Switch is understandably expensive and making it more powerful would cause the price to skyrocket. Once again, the Steam Deck is proof that we shouldn't get something more powerful yet, because of how much Valve had to sacrifice in order to get that $400USD price point.

The games are also understandably expensive; the game cards are proprietary and there's no reason for Nintendo as a business to give a discount digitally (technically the double Good Points is a 2% discount). For us, it's painful to have to buy games that expensive.

But everything else? Goddamn, it didn't need to be so freaking expensive. NSO, even with the Expansion, is still cheaper than PSN and XBL, but what you're getting is so much less. If you were to divide up the amount you get versus the price (ex. $1 per feature), I think NSO is overpriced at that point.

Buying any 1st-party controller on the Switch costs way more than it really should, especially looking at the GameCube Controllers being rarely supported.

The original Switch model had many flaws and missing features to the point where you pretty much had to buy accessories. The amount of money spent could equate up to the same amount of money you'd spend on a PS5 or XSX. Thank gosh for the OLED model, but that's still a bit much.

But looking back, whatever happened to the accessible Nintendo we know? The 3DS and Wii U are prime examples of what Nintendo could do for basically everything.

Nintendo should have just done 3 NSO tiers:
1) NSO: $20 per year individual, $35 per year Family plan
2) NSO + N64/Genesis games: $30 per year individual, $50 per year Family plan
3) NSO + Expansion Pack: $50 per year individual, $80 per year Family plan (also comes with DLC for future Nintendo games, not just Animal Crossing)

Instead, they skipped Tier 2 and went right to Tier 3.

@BanjoPickles Considering the subscription would also go to licensing for the third party games the amount that's paid is going to be linked to the games we'll get.

I think the pattern of the NES/SNES starting with big hitters like Breath of Fire and Ghosts and Goblins and then ending up with obscure no names like Claymates is directly linked to the the smaller pool of licensing money as the number of games went up.

I'd doubt Sega and Microsoft are letting Nintendo host their Genesis games and Banjo Kazooie for cheap.

@Rayquaza2510 i havent payed full price for ps+ in a couple years...you can look up ps+ keys online..the last couple times ive paid 28 and 45... Even at 60 ps+ atleast gives you modern and popular games which more than justify the cost... Not so much here...i can see it being worth it for gamecube and n64 but but just barely

HABLUAGHHHHHH!!!!!
That was me throwing up after seeing the price.
I don't own animal crossing so why force everyone to buy it and it's just me but I am 99% certain it's going to stay that expensive when you go to renew it.

@Snatcher hehe. They are gonna buy into this, because its the future and its better than the past. People buy ps5 games for more, people bought n64 games that cost 80 bucks over 20 years ago. In my opinion the direction nintendo is taking is natural, fair and good. Its a payment model that gives alot of good content for little money, and nintendo gets the oppurtunity to grow more, its a win win. If everything Else was like before, when we rented 1 and 1 vhs movie etc and had high expenses on entertainment, then i would understand better.. but now when everything is digital its a different ballgame. Its costs almost nothing to have access to a huuuuuge library of music, movies, games, and u can decide month to month, year to year what you wanna use your money on.
Nintendo understand their market and uses their strengths. Old games that makes old people happy AND new generations that havent played it before, on top of that they now include content to their most popular modern game (maybe games).

Crazy times we live in. Consuming has taken a different level and nothing is good enough.

They really need to add games regularly if they are to charge as much.

@DennisNOR At least ps5 games work, at least they look good, at least they run smoothly, But this, this, Want us to pay how much for what? Watch, everyone is just going to emulate these games on the steam deck or pc and what not, and if they can't?

I really hope they don't buy into it, But your right, some people are, I just hope the vast amount of people don't.

Now if this were to have GBA and Gamecube games? then ya, I would probably maybe be down to buy it, but for this? with crappy internet issue, and cloud saves that wont even work for Pokemon? No thanks.

Vote with your wallets. This whole mess started because people were willing to pay Microsoft for online play on Xbox back in the day when it was free everywhere else. There’s a point where they’ll charge to recoup costs and make a profit and then there’s a point where they’ll charge because they know people will pay it. The original NSO promised regular release of new games and now they’re going back on that.

@Snatcher I figure people will buy it. Many said the same about the original membership, downvoted the videos en-mass yet nearly 1 in 3 switch users have the online subscription.

It's incredibly easy to say you won't buy the expansion today, when you couldn't even if you wanted to. But on the 25th when there's the option to have the likes of Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 on the Switch and Sega's games...then down the line Majora's Mask, Banjo Kazooie, Paper Mario etc. These people will crack and they'll buy it.

@pipes That was November 2012 when the last home console to ever have free online was launched. People voted with their wallets against the WiiU and now we have subscriptions for all systems.

@UmbreonsPapa You hit the nail on the head... it's not about the games it's about the value they are offering. I do own all kinds of systems with these games, and yes I can play them other ways than NSO. Heck there are a lot of games I probably have at least 5 options to legally play them on. So the issue, if Nintendo offered a service or option that was priced consumer friendly or fair there would be no complaints. I'd gladly pick it up and own a 6th way to play the games they offer, but... their pricing for what they are offering is way out of wack with their previous offerings as well as compared to what the competition is charging for their services/offerings. I am a Nintendo fan, just like I like games on my Xbox and my PlayStation but at some point you have to look at what each offers and the value of it. This is where Nintendo has lost it's mind. The NSO service sucks and is outdated compared to the competition and as of now they have priced themselves squarely shoulder to shoulder with MS and Sony. They simply need to do better and people are voicing that.

I honestly expected it to be $30 a year for everything. This pricing is absurd. I just want virtual console back. F this mess.

@Bentendo1609 "£3 a month, that's nothing"

Yeah, but xbox live and PSN+ work out to about £4 a month, but that comes with much better quality of online services, and a better selection of free monthly games, as well as really deep discounts on games.

Literally. The only argument in NSO's favour when it launched was "it's very cheap, and therefore, good value(edit: and if they added N64 and GC games it would be really good value)" but it's not much cheaper than alternatives now, and definitely not better value.

Take out the online play and cloud back-ups from the base plan.
Family plan with no online play or no back-ups just nes and snes games at $35.00 yearly.. do you think people would pay for that? I'm betting the number that would, would shrink drastically.
Expansion for Genesis and N64 for $45 yearly and we are supposed to pay for that. My point is, the base plan gives you actual things people need/want beyond some old emulated games, and people even thought that was pushing it based on the quality of the service.

Well now we know why they didn’t release the price in the direct. People would have been so mad they would have ignored the rest of the direct.

This is terribly priced. More than doubling it?

Yes, I’m going to give in. But in the vain hope that the cost increase is to herald a better product (which yeah, you now need more systems than 64 and genesis to add to it. So maybe if those rumors about the saturn are true… throw in dreamcast, game gear, gb(c), gba, DS (two switches required even), 3ds, wii, and wii u (two switches required again), turbografx 16, and virtual boy) and stop drip feeding the games.

So there's no option for a monthly fee like with the current system? OK then

@Dr_Corndog ya this is just crazy, I can accept extra $15 max, that’s it.

Most of us can probably afford $50/year but I agree that is a big jump for not enough return, even with DLC. I will wait and see. Hopefully I can get the N64 controller later if I decide to jump on board.

@Kidfunkadelic83 If you dump your own roms from your own cartridges it's okay. But even if you download a game from an illegal source (anywhere that's not Nintendo for N64 games) and you have the game physical you are technically still pirating it. Well at least according to EU legislation.

I do have to note, I'm a software developer myself. And I also deal to some degree with software piracy. And I can tell you from my personal experience that you lose a lot of money when people don't pay for the software you create. Piracy is not a victimless crime.

@Mattock1987 I don't think that's the case here though, trust me when I say money is not the problem. I personally have an illness where I love to buy stuff way more than I should. Having said that I can at least justify most purchases in my mind as the value compared to the market offerings is there. This honestly is not. Again it has nothing to do with people being cheap, it has to do with Nintendo taking a dump in a box and selling it for top price saying "we can do this" we're Nintendo. My two cents at least.

@pipes I'm still waiting for Commodore 64 and Amiga on NSO

Ok so say I bought the DLC for Animal Crossing, What'll happen if I buy the expansion then? Will I only get the N64 and Sega Genesis Emulation?

@The-Nate I just pre-ordered my A500 about a week back. Man I miss the Amiga. Still have nightmares about coding on the 64 though... It was always Vic 20 and Amiga 500 for me.

What if I'm not interested in AC DLC? Not justified.

Anyway, I didn't expect it to be that much tbh. In which eShop is it the cheapest anyway? Is it still South Africa or Poland this time?

Idk. This takes my family plan from
$35 to $80. Might stick with my current NSO offering until more games/systems get added to the Expansion Pack.

This is a no. No. NO. Nothing interest me about this upgrade. Look at Nintendo trying to entice the people who have Animal Crossing. There’s not many games I wanna play on the N64 or Sega either. This should’ve been at 10 or maybe a $15 price increase. I think we get a free game to try. I’m wondering what the game is this month? I think it’s Jack offIce or some thing. Meh. There is an upside to this I don’t have to make a sly remark about this service anymore Because clearly the NES and SNES games are you going to be few and far between.

What if Nintendo changes the DLC every month? That would be a sneaky ploy.

Triple the price for some great games ehhhh. Hard pass for now. Will consider some monthly options if possible. But c'mon, this is GREAT for profits that eill lead to tens of millions of dollars. Hooe they add Gamecube and Wii games for that price

Nintendo have lost their damn minds. In a discord server I said i expect more for that price. Not Dlc I don't even own.

Promotion deals,Free switch games per month, better servers, the other systems to included in the expansion for when they come like DS, GBA and GC and freaking Voice chat.

If you're charging me Sony and MS prices I expect Sony and MS deals

Haha. Two words Nintendo. And the second one is "off".

I agree with some on here. For those prices we need a lot more. Parity with other consoles' offers and giveaways would be common sense and fair. Not great value for money IMO

@Crockin Ocarina of Time 3D is the better definitive version of the game. So I'd rather just play that on my 3DS.

@nessisonett woah totally here for that comment update.

that's way too much money

@sanderev and i completed understand that and appreciate it and wouldnt/dont do it with games still available at retail stores where chaps like yourself lose out on the sale of a new retail copy of a game. If Nintendo cared enough about that they would not be trying to shoehorn people in to a subscription which is charged mainly towards a singular game, in this case animal crossing. I was more than happy to pay an extra £9.99 or even round it to a straight £30 a year but you cant agree that making people pay for DLC for a game they may not possibly have or show an interest in is a good business model? They are even selling the DLC stand alone so its nothing more than to line their own pockets. Thats the bit im not ok with.